1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for immobilizing in emergency situations the head, neck, and spinal column of patients with known or suspected spinal injury, and also permitting transport of such patients.
2. Background Art
Thousands of traumatic head and neck injuries occur each year in the United States, primarily as a result of automobile and motorcycle accidents, but also as a result of assault and recreational accidents. Patients with such injuries need to be immediately immobilized on a spinal immobilization board that restricts movement of the cervical, spinal, and head areas. Proper medical equipment to accomplish this is vital to safely move the patient from the accident scene.
Unfortunately, despite vastly improved treatments and technologies for treating spinal cord injuries, patients with traumatic head and neck injuries may receive secondary injuries as a result of poor post-traumatic handling, and all too often these are the result of poor carrying equipment (i.e., inadequate spinal immobilization boards and cervical devices). Many patients must lie for hours on an immobilization board during transport, x-ray clearance, x-rays and other procedures for medical evaluation and treatment, and this needs to be rendered as comfortable and medically secure as possible.
Traumatically injured patients should, under ideal circumstances, be examined by medical personnel either while at the accident scene, en route to a hospital, or immediately upon arrival at a hospital without having to move the patient an additional time from the immobilization board. Current cervical restraint devices preclude examination by a physician and must, therefore, be removed to perform needed examinations, creating an additional risk for the patient. The wood or plastic boards currently available may distort or block x-rays, again creating the need for removal of the patient from the immobilization device for a repeat x-ray. Each time a patient is moved on and off the board, a significant risk of secondary injury is presented.
The boards currently in use are susceptible to damage by exposure to weather, ultraviolet light, cracking, and by abrasion during handling and storage. The degradation of surfaces greatly increases the likelihood of entrapment of bacteria and reduces the strength of the boards. Plywood boards become rough and splinter (or even crack in two, dropping a patient to the ground) and plastic boards become burred and cracked, thereby losing structural integrity and creating the possibility of causing abrasions, puncture wounds, and slivers in the patient and/or rescuers.
Furthermore, the currently available boards are heavy and awkward to handle. Boards that are flat with a low profile cause the patient to be twisted and rocked as the trauma team attempts to get their fingers under the board to lift it. Boards that have a higher profile with easy hand holds require patients to be lifted higher in order to be placed on the board, again increasing risk to the patient.
Injection molded plastic devices have attempted to resolve the above issues with limited success. They still remain costly, heavy, and awkward to use and sometimes have unacceptable x-ray distortion. Without fiber reinforcement, they are either thick and heavy or too thin and too flexible.
Cervical spine immobilization has also seen no major improvements in the past several decades, although there has been an influx of cardboard and foam devices which are bulky, difficult to put on (often taking several precious minutes to secure), and which can easily be foiled by a patient who is trying to move his or her head. This is a particular problem with a patient who is under the influence of alcohol or otherwise resistant to the medically necessary physical restraints that must be imposed to reduce secondary spinal injuries. In addition, the disposable cardboard and foam devices are costly, with the total expense for the United States running several million dollars per year.
As demonstrated in Operation Desert Storm, there is an increased demand for military air lift and evacuation equipment and a need for high-performance trauma equipment. For airplane or helicopter transport, light-weight equipment which requires a small storage space is essential. Also a light-weight and fire resistant board would be particularly well suited for Air Rescue and mountain rescue services.
The present invention is of a fiber-reinforced, resin transfer molded, composite board incorporating a non-disposable cervical immobilization device. The many deficiencies of present technology cited above are largely obviated by the present invention.